Method of applying polished coatings to sheet units



Feb. 16, 1943. E. CALIGAR], JR

METHOD OF APPLYING A POLISHED COATING T0 SHEET UNITS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24, 1940 1943- E. CALIGARI, JR ,311, 18

METHOD OF APPLYING A POLISHED COATING TO SHEET UNITS Filed Feb. 24, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z. [Hiya/"1'; Li?

Patented Feb. 16, 1943 Ma'rnon or APPLYING rousuan COAT- mos 1'0 sneer UNITS Eugene Caligari, Jr., Norfolk, Va.

Application February 24, 1940, Serial No. 320,678 1 Claim. (01. 117-44) fluent state, in contact with the polished surface of a sheet which will not adhere to the surface of the coating when the latter is dry.

Another object of the invention is the provision ofa coating applied to the surface of a base sheet and leveled ofi while in fluent state against a surfacing sheet having the nona'dhesive characteristic above described.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a coating applied to the surface of a base member of such character that it will swell through absorption of part of the coating, with the inherent tendency to break the surface'of the coating through said swelling, the surface of the applied coating being leveled 011 while in fluent state against the polished surface of a sheet of material having the physical characteristic that it will adhere to the surface of the applied coating while the latter is wet, bonding it against breaking through the stresses transmitted from the swelled base layer, but which will not adhere to said surface after the coating has dried or set and there is no longer any danger of the surface breaking under the expansive stresses of the base board.

Another object of the invention is the method of forminga polished or glossy coating by spray= ing or painting a film or a plurality of superposed films of transparent lacquer or the like on the polished surface of a sheet of material which will not adhere to the lacquer when the latter has dried, and applying a background coat to the lacquer, with the interposition of decorative features such as marbling streaks, the whole being adhesively attached to rigid or flexible stock with the surfacing sheet on top, and the latter being peeled off or removed from the surface of the transparent lacquer.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a number of practical embodiments thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of the following specification, and through= out the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to denote identical parts:

Figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate a method of applying a polished coating directly to a backboard or sheet,

Figure 1 being a perspective view of a leveling template,

Figure 2 being a cross-section through the template with the coating board, and

Figure 3 being a perspective view showing leveling means, and indicating partial removal of the surfacing sheet.

Figures 4 and 5 show the application of the subject method to the making of an invisible joint between adjacent wallboards,

Figure 4 being a view in elevation of two adiacent wallboards, showing the joint, and

Figure 5 being a transverse section taken alon the line 5i'l of Figure 4.

} Figures 6 and '7 illustrate the invention applied to a wood veneer board with polished surface,

Figure 6 being a perspective view indicating the order in which the layers are laid on the surfacing sheet, and

Figure '7 being a longitudinal view showing the laminated unit of Figure 6 adhesively applied to a backboard.

Figures 8 and 9 illustratethe invention applied to a flexible backing,

Figure 8 being a longitudinal view indicating the partial removal of the surfacing sheet, and

Figure 9 being a perspective view showing the finished sheet bent into a cylindrical column.

Figures 10 to 13, inclusive, show steps in the Figure 13 being a side elevation of the finished marbleized board with the surfacing sheet par-- tlally removed.

The purpose of the invention is to produce a smooth, glossy, polished surface effect upon coated materials, without the necessity of the tedious process of hand rubbing, and all of the exemplary embodiments of the invention herein described are based upon the underlying principle face contact with the polished surface of a sheet of material which will adhere to the plasticwhile the plastic is wet, but which will not adhere to it when the plastic is dry, so that the surfacing sheet can be readily removed without marring the perfectly molded polished surface of the coating.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, and first adverting to Figures 1, 2 and 3, these illustrate the method of forming the coating with polished surface directly upon the backing board which may be a sheet of plywood or a sheet of fiber board, such as are used in. building construction. In ca ryi out this form of the invention, I may use a leveling template I comprising a base 2 of such width as to snugly receive the wallboard, and having the side members 3 and l which are of uniform height and are employed for leveling the coating. The sheet 5 of plywood or fiber board is placed in the temat the sides to receive excess coating materialsqueezeed out in the leveling operation.

The coating may be one of a large number 0 known substances, such for example as any oil paint, casein paint or mineral plastic composition. The coating is applied to the wallboard by means of a brush, as in painting, or it may be applied in any other suitable or desired manner. It is applied in wet plastic form, in quantity sufficient to slightly more than fill the space between the side members 3 and 4. A surfacing sheet I, see Figure 3, is laid upon the wet coating, the edges of the surfacing sheet terminating within the side members. The surfacing sheet is of such material as will adhere to the coating while the latter is wet, but which will not adhere to it after it is dried or set.

I have found that commercially procurable sheets of Celluloid, Cellophane, Cellolith or other sheets of nitrocellulose or cellulose acetate have the desired physical reaction in association with almost all plastic coatings which are familiar to the painters or interior decorators art. All.of such sheets have an inherently smooth highly polished surface characterized by the absence of perceptible grain, and they are nonabsorbent and can be used over and over again.

When the surfacing sheet is in place, a leveling device which is exemplified in Figure 3 by the roller 8 is passed across it, the effect being to eliminate all air bubbles and to bring the surfacing sheet into substantially perfect and continuous surface contact with the plastic coating.

The fact that the surfacing sheet will stick to the plastic while the latter is wet has an important advantage. It is known that plywood and fibrous wallboard is absorptive, and that in absorbing part of the wet plastic coating, it swells. The expansion due to sealing has the inherent tendency to break the surface of the coating. This is particularly true withplywood, it being well known that plywood can be painted and repainted repeatedly, but that grain will still rise, breaking the surface of the coating regardless of its thickness. By virtue of the adhesive quality of the surfacing sheet toward the wet plastic, the surface of the plastic is bonded by the surfacing sheet so that it resists the expansive stress of the swelled backing and will not break. When the plastic coating has become dried, the breaking stresses no longer exist so that the bonding function of the'surfacing sheet is no longer required. The surfacing sheet at this time becomes nona in its relation to the coating, so that it can be readily removed. Being flexible, the surfacing sheet can be peeled or lifted gradually from the surface of the dried plastic coating without scratching or otherwise marring said coating. The result is that the coating has a glossy polished surface which is a replies. of the polished surface of the surfacing sheet against which it was conformed. A coated plywood or fiber board sheet made according to the method above described has a surface which is the equal in smoothness and polish of the meat tile or hand-rubbed surface.

In Figure 4, two wallboard panels 9 and II are shown in vertical abutting relation, as they would appear in a wall. These panels may be coated plywood panels manufactured in the manner above described. It is common to form the edges of wallboard panels with shallow rabbets l I which in the abutting wallboards form a channel. It is also common to paste a strip of paper I! within this channel, concealing the joint ll between the wallboards. Prior to the present invention, it has been common to then fill the channel with plaster of Paris, troweling this out to a feather edge in the attempt to make the Joint invisible. It is obvious that with polished surfaced wallboards, an invisible Joint cannot be made in this manner. By the present invention, the channel may be filled with a plastic composition similar to'that employed in the coating of the wallboards, a strip H of surfacing material having the characteristics of the surfacing sheet I placed against the wet plastic and rolled level by a suitable squeegee or other tool. The strip II is left in place until the plastic joint has dried. It then becomes nonadhesive toward the plastic and peels ofi automatically, or may be readily stripped off, leaving the joint as even, smooth and polished as the adjacent wallboard surfaces.

In Figures 6 and '7 I have illustrated a slight variant of the invention,- which is preferably employed where the surface coating consists of one or a plurality of films or layers of transparent lacquer or the like. It is well known that in producing a rubbed transparent finish on wood, for example, depth of luster can be secured only through the application of a plurality of varnish or lacquer films, each of which must be permitted to dry and then rubbed down before the next film is'applied. If the under coats are not individually rubbed down, the inequalities of the under coats are bound to show in the final coat, regardless of how much it be rubbed.

It would he obviously impracticable to applya plurality of lacquer coats to the plywood or fiber board illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, leaving each coat unrubbed and depending upon the surfacing sheet to satisfactorily flatten the final film. A reverse method is therefore employed. Figure 6 shows that the surfacing sheet I is first laid down, and then a film i 5 of transparent.

lacquer or the like applied thereto, either by spraying or witha brush. This lacquer being extremely fluent, makes perfect and continuous surface contact with the polished surfac of the surfacing sheet I which is not disturbed by the application of the superposed film. The first film i5 is permitted to dry before the next film is applied thereto. When the proper depth of lacquer has been obtained, the decorative sheet which in the present example is represented as a sheet of wood veneer I6, is laid on the last coat of lacquer while the latter is still wet. It is optional, whether the laminated unit thus formed shall be pressed to exclude air bubbles from between the veneer and the last lacquer coat, or to improve the continuity of the adhesion of the wood veneer to the lacquer coat. As a rule, the unit thus formed will be adhesively applied to a backing sheet. Figure 7 shows a backing board H which may be a block of wood orof any suitable material. able glue or cement, and the unit shown in Figure 6 is then inverted upon it and pressed in intimate contact therewith. The surfacing sheet I is then removed, the result being a wood veneer block with a deep lustrous polished surface.

Figures 8 and 9 show a form of the invention in which the polished transparent lacquer coating is deposited upon the surfacing sheet and a decorative sheet l8 applied thereto in the same manner as was the wood veneer sheet 16 in Figure 6. The decorative sheet may be a piece of paper simulating wood or any pattern, or it may be an actual wood veneer or itself an opaque plastic coating. That which distinguishes the form of the invention shown in Figures 8 and 9 from that of Figures 6 and '7 is that a rigid backing board is not employed, but the unit is left flexible so that it can be curved to conform to any desired shape such as the column [9 in Figure 9. It will be understood that the surface formed in contact with the surfacing sheet will be the outside surface of the flexible laminated unit.

Figures to 13, inclusive, illustrate a form of the invention in which the product is a sheet or board resembling highly polished marble. Inasmuch as the surface coating is formed of one or a plurality of films of transparent lacquer or the like, the film of lacquer 20 is deposited upon the surfacing sheet I in the same manner as was done, as described in connection with Figures 6 and '7. As soon as the requiste number It upper side is wet with a suit-' of lacquer films have been applied, the unit thus streaks. The marbleizing pigment is thus lifted from the bath upon the surface of the lacquer,

coating. This method of transferring marbleizing pigment to a surface is, of course, per se no part of the present invention. When the marbleizing pigment has dried upon the lacquer surface, a background coat 22 is spread over it in any suitable manner, as for example, by the spray gun 23 shown in Figure 12. opaque coat has dried the unit consisting of the opaque coat, marbleizing pigment and the coat of transparent lacquer is adhesively united to a suitable backing 24, which may be either of rigid or flexible character, the coat of transparent lacquer being uppermost. The surfacing sheet I is then removed, as indicated at the left hand end of Figure 13, leaving the surface of the transparent lacquer perfectly smooth and highly polished.

The above illustrative embodiments of the invention do not by any means exhaust the diverse uses to which my method may be applied. Therefore, the specific details as shown and described are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claim.

'What I claim as my invention is:

Method of manufacturing a wall panel having a rigid plywood back and an adherent smooth rigid surface layer of plastic material, comprising applying to one side of the plywood panel a fluent plastic coating which wets the panel and dries adhesively thereto, applying to the outer surface of said coating while fluent, a flexible surfacing sheet having a polished contacting sur-. face adherent to the surface of the coating while fluent, preventing localized ruptures in said surface due to the inherent grain raising property of the plywood when wet, but non-adherent to the plastic coating after the latter has dried, leveling the fluent plastic coating through pressure applied progressively through successive areas of said surfacing sheet, thereby producing substantially perfect and continuous contact between said-surfacing sheet and coating, drying the coat, and removing the surfacing sheet.

EUGENE CALIGARI, JR.

When the 

